UPDATE: No bed bugs found at Anderson movie theater after family blames theater for bug bites

Update (Sept. 12, 2017)– Gene Foster, General Manager for the theater, says a pest control service came out Tuesday morning and did a thorough inspection. No bed bugs were found in the theater, Foster said.

Original story:

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

ANDERSON, Ind. – Bites, welts and scratching: they’re the unwanted souvenirs a Madison County family says they took home after seeing a movie. The family claims they noticed the bug bites after visiting the local theater.

“It was pretty gross,” said Jonah Pedraza, a movie goer.

On Friday night, Chanaa Gilliatt, her husband and three teenagers went to see “It” at Mounds 10 Theatre in Anderson. The family says the situation got even scarier when they got home.

“When you touch our bed right now bugs will just actually come out and it’s quite scary,” said Chanaa Gilliatt, a movie goer.

The general manager of Mounds 10 Theater says his facility isn’t to blame. Gene Foster has been with Mounds 10 Theater since the place opened more than a decade ago.

“You feel like you’re in between a rock and a hard place, it’s a like a no win situation for us but we do everything we can,” said Gene Foster, general manager with Mounds 10 Theater.

Foster admits they’ve dealt with bed bugs earlier this year and an exterminator was called to treat the entire theater. Since then, every time the business gets a complaint, Foster says they have pest control experts do an inspection throughout all 10 theaters. In the past four months, Foster says there have been at least five inspections and no bed bugs were found.

“It becomes frustrating and it’s becoming expensive but it’s just part of, I guess it’s something just part of doing business now. It’s a shame that it is but we do not ignore it and we take very seriously. I wouldn’t want to work in a theater with bed bugs, good grief,” said Gene Foster, general manager with Mounds 10 Theater.

FOX59 spoke with an exterminator service who said it’s very, very easy to get bed bugs and you can have bed bugs for days or even weeks without knowing it.

“I just worry about other people’s health and their safety that’s what I’m concerned about,” says Gilliatt.

Following a complaint, Foster says he is meeting with an exterminator at the theater Tuesday morning for an inspection. If bed bugs are found, a treatment will be done immediately.

Recently, Terminix ranked Indianapolis as the eighth worst city in the country for bed bug infestations.